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A Parent’s Guide to Working From Home, During a Global Pandemic, Without Going Insane

Though I usually enjoy working from Viget’s lovely Boulder office, during quarantine I am now working from home while simultaneously parenting my 3-year-old daughter Audrey. My husband works in healthcare and though he is not on the front lines battling COVID-19, he is still an essential worker and as such leaves our home to work every day.

Some working/parenting days are great! I somehow get my tasks accomplished, my kid is happy, and we spend some quality time together.

And some days are awful. I have to ignore my daughter having a meltdown and try to focus on meetings, and I wish I wasn’t in this situation at all. Most days are somewhere in the middle; I’m just doing my best to get by.

I’ve seen enough working parent memes and cries for help on social media to know that I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who now get to experience the stress and anxiety of living through a global pandemic while simultaneously navigating ways to stay productive while working from home and being an effective parent. Fun isn’t it?

I’m not an expert on the matter, but I have found a few small things that are making me feel a bit more sane. I hope sharing them will make someone else’s life easier too.

Truths to Accept

First, let’s acknowledge some truths about this new situation we find ourselves in:

Truth 1: We’ve lost something.

Parents have lost more than daycare and schools during this epidemic. We’ve lost any time that we had for ourselves, and that was really valuable. We no longer have small moments in the day to catch up on our personal lives. I no longer have a commute to separate my work duties from my mom duties, or catch up with my friends, or just be quiet.

Truth 2: We’re human.

The reason you can’t be a great employee and a great parent and a great friend and a great partner or spouse all day every day isn’t because you’re doing a bad job, it’s because being constantly wonderful in all aspects of your life is impossible. Pick one or two of those things a day to focus on.

Truth 3: We’re all doing our best.

This is the most important part of this article. Be kind to yourselves. This isn’t easy, and putting so much pressure on yourself that you break isn’t going to make it any easier.

Work from Home Goals

Now that we’ve accepted some truths about our current situation, let’s set some goals.

Goal 1: Do Good Work

At Viget, and wherever you work, with kids or without we all want to make sure that the quality of our work stays up throughout the pandemic and that we can continue to be reliable team members and employees to the best of our abilities.

Goal 2: Stay Sane

We need to figure out ways to do this without sacrificing ourselves entirely. For me, this means fitting my work into normal work hours as much as possible so that I can still have some downtime in the evenings.

Goal 3: Make This Sustainable

None of us knows how long this will last but we may as well begin mentally preparing for a long haul.

Work from Home Rules

Now, there are some great Work from Home Rules that apply to everyone with or without kids. My coworker Paul Koch shared these with the Viget team a Jeremy Bearimy ago and I agree this is also the foundation for working from home with kids.

  1. When you’re in a remote meeting, minimize other windows to stay focused
  2. Set a schedule and avoid chores*
  3. Take breaks away from the screen
  4. Plan your workday on the calendar+
  5. Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction
  6. Use timers+
  7. Keep your work area separate from where you relax
  8. Pretend that you’re still WFW
  9. Experiment and figure out what works for you

In the improv spirit I say “Yes, AND….” to these tips. And so, here are my adjusted rules for WFH while kiddos around: These have both been really solid tools for me, so let’s dig in.

Daily flexible schedule for kids

Day Planning: Calendars and Timers

A few small tweaks and adjustments make this even more doable for me and my 3-year-old. First- I don’t avoid chores entirely. If I’m going up and down the stairs all day anyway I might as well throw in a load of laundry while I’m at it. The more I can get done during the day means a greater chance of some down time in the evening.

Each morning I plan my day and Audrey’s day:

My Work Day:

Audrey's Day

Identify times of day you are more likely to be focus and protect them. For me, I know I have a block of time from 5-7a before Audrey wakes up and again during “nap time” from 1-3p.I built a construction paper “schedule” that we update and reorganize daily. We make the schedule together each day. She feels ownership over it and she gets to be the one who tells me what we do next.
Look at your calendar first thing and make adjustments either in your plans or move meetings if you have to.I’m strategic about screen time- I try to schedule it when I have meetings. It also helps to schedule a physical activity before screen time as she is less likely to get bored.
Make goals for your day: Tackle time sensitive tasks first. Take care of things that either your co-workers or clients are waiting on from you first, this will help your day be a lot less stressful. Non-time sensitive tasks come next- these can be done at any time of day.We always include “nap time” even though she rarely naps anymore. This is mostly a time for us both to be alone.

When we make the schedule together it also helps me understand her favorite parts of the day and reminds me to include them.

Once our days are planned, I also use timers to help keep the structure of the day. (I bought a great alarm clock for kids on Amazon that turns colors to signal bedtime and quiet time. It’s been hugely worth it for me.)

Timers for Me:

Timers for Audrey:

More than ever, I rely on a time tracking timer. At Viget we use Harvest to track time, and it has a handy built in timer, but there are many apps or online tools that could help you keep track of your time as well.Audrey knows what time she can come out of her room in the morning. If she wakes up before the light is green she plays quietly in her room.
I need a timer because the days and hours are bleeding together- without tracking as I go it would be really hard for me to remember when I worked on certain projects or know for certain if I gave Viget enough time for the day.She knows how long “nap time” is in the afternoon.
Starting and stopping the timer helps me turn on and off “work mode”, which is a helpful sanity bonus.Perhaps best of all I am not the bad guy! “Sorry honey, the light isn’t green yet and there really isn’t anything mommy can do about it” is my new favorite way to ensure we both get some quiet time.

Work from Home Rules: Updated for Parents

Finally, I have a few more Work from Home Rules for parents to add to the list:

  1. Minimize other windows in remote meetings
  2. Set a schedule and fit in some chores if time allows
  3. Take breaks away from the screen
  4. Schedule both your and your kids’ days
  5. Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction
  6. Use timers to track your own time and help your kids understand the day
  7. Keep your work area separate from where you relax
  8. Pretend that you’re still WFW
  9. Experiment and figure out what works for you
  10. Be prepared with a few activities
    • Each morning, have just ONE thing ready to go. This can be a worksheet you printed out, a coloring station setup, a new bag of kinetic sand you just got delivered from Amazon, a kids dance video on YouTube or an iPad game. Recently I started enlisting my mom to read stories on Facetime. The activity doesn’t have to be new each day but (especially for young kids) it has to be handy for you to start up quickly if your schedule changes
  11. Clearly communicate your availability with your team and project PMs
    • Life happens. Some days are going to be hard. Whatever you do, don’t burn yourself out or leave your team hanging. If you need to move a meeting or take a day off, communicate that as early and as clearly as you can.
  12. Take PTO if you can
    • None of us are superheroes. If you’re feeling overwhelmed- take a look at the next few days and figure out which one makes the most sense for you to take a break.
  13. Take breaks to be alone without doing a task
    • Work and family responsibilities have blended together, there’s almost no room for being alone. If you can find some precious alone time don’t use it to fold laundry or clean the bathroom. Just zone out. I think we all really need this.

Last but not least, enjoy your time at home if you can. This is an unusual circumstance and even though it’s really hard, there are parts that are really great too.

If you have some great WFH tips we’d love to hear about them in the comments!




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Differentiating through Log-Log Convex Programs. (arXiv:2004.12553v2 [math.OC] UPDATED)

We show how to efficiently compute the derivative (when it exists) of the solution map of log-log convex programs (LLCPs). These are nonconvex, nonsmooth optimization problems with positive variables that become convex when the variables, objective functions, and constraint functions are replaced with their logs. We focus specifically on LLCPs generated by disciplined geometric programming, a grammar consisting of a set of atomic functions with known log-log curvature and a composition rule for combining them. We represent a parametrized LLCP as the composition of a smooth transformation of parameters, a convex optimization problem, and an exponential transformation of the convex optimization problem's solution. The derivative of this composition can be computed efficiently, using recently developed methods for differentiating through convex optimization problems. We implement our method in CVXPY, a Python-embedded modeling language and rewriting system for convex optimization. In just a few lines of code, a user can specify a parametrized LLCP, solve it, and evaluate the derivative or its adjoint at a vector. This makes it possible to conduct sensitivity analyses of solutions, given perturbations to the parameters, and to compute the gradient of a function of the solution with respect to the parameters. We use the adjoint of the derivative to implement differentiable log-log convex optimization layers in PyTorch and TensorFlow. Finally, we present applications to designing queuing systems and fitting structured prediction models.




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Finite dimensional simple modules of $(q, mathbf{Q})$-current algebras. (arXiv:2004.11069v2 [math.RT] UPDATED)

The $(q, mathbf{Q})$-current algebra associated with the general linear Lie algebra was introduced by the second author in the study of representation theory of cyclotomic $q$-Schur algebras. In this paper, we study the $(q, mathbf{Q})$-current algebra $U_q(mathfrak{sl}_n^{langle mathbf{Q} angle}[x])$ associated with the special linear Lie algebra $mathfrak{sl}_n$. In particular, we classify finite dimensional simple $U_q(mathfrak{sl}_n^{langle mathbf{Q} angle}[x])$-modules.




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Simulation of Integro-Differential Equation and Application in Estimation of Ruin Probability with Mixed Fractional Brownian Motion. (arXiv:1709.03418v6 [math.PR] UPDATED)

In this paper, we are concerned with the numerical solution of one type integro-differential equation by a probability method based on the fundamental martingale of mixed Gaussian processes. As an application, we will try to simulate the estimation of ruin probability with an unknown parameter driven not by the classical L'evy process but by the mixed fractional Brownian motion.




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Positive Geometries and Differential Forms with Non-Logarithmic Singularities I. (arXiv:2005.03612v1 [hep-th])

Positive geometries encode the physics of scattering amplitudes in flat space-time and the wavefunction of the universe in cosmology for a large class of models. Their unique canonical forms, providing such quantum mechanical observables, are characterised by having only logarithmic singularities along all the boundaries of the positive geometry. However, physical observables have logarithmic singularities just for a subset of theories. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand whether a similar paradigm can underlie their structure in more general cases. In this paper we start a systematic investigation of a geometric-combinatorial characterisation of differential forms with non-logarithmic singularities, focusing on projective polytopes and related meromorphic forms with multiple poles. We introduce the notions of covariant forms and covariant pairings. Covariant forms have poles only along the boundaries of the given polytope; moreover, their leading Laurent coefficients along any of the boundaries are still covariant forms on the specific boundary. Whereas meromorphic forms in covariant pairing with a polytope are associated to a specific (signed) triangulation, in which poles on spurious boundaries do not cancel completely, but their order is lowered. These meromorphic forms can be fully characterised if the polytope they are associated to is viewed as the restriction of a higher dimensional one onto a hyperplane. The canonical form of the latter can be mapped into a covariant form or a form in covariant pairing via a covariant restriction. We show how the geometry of the higher dimensional polytope determines the structure of these differential forms. Finally, we discuss how these notions are related to Jeffrey-Kirwan residues and cosmological polytopes.




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A regularity criterion of the 3D MHD equations involving one velocity and one current density component in Lorentz. (arXiv:2005.03377v1 [math.AP])

In this paper, we study the regularity criterion of weak solutions to the three-dimensional (3D) MHD equations. It is proved that the solution $(u,b)$ becomes regular provided that one velocity and one current density component of the solution satisfy% egin{equation} u_{3}in L^{frac{30alpha }{7alpha -45}}left( 0,T;L^{alpha ,infty }left( mathbb{R}^{3} ight) ight) ext{ with }frac{45}{7}% leq alpha leq infty , label{eq01} end{equation}% and egin{equation} j_{3}in L^{frac{2eta }{2eta -3}}left( 0,T;L^{eta ,infty }left( mathbb{R}^{3} ight) ight) ext{ with }frac{3}{2}leq eta leq infty , label{eq02} end{equation}% which generalize some known results.




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Fourier transformation and stability of differential equation on $L^1(Bbb{R})$. (arXiv:2005.03296v1 [math.FA])

In the present paper by the Fourier transform we show that every linear differential equations of $n$-th order has a solution in $L^1(Bbb{R})$ which is infinitely differentiable in $Bbb{R} setminus {0}$. Moreover the Hyers-Ulam stability of such equations on $L^1(Bbb{R})$ is investigated.




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Lorentz estimates for quasi-linear elliptic double obstacle problems involving a Schr"odinger term. (arXiv:2005.03281v1 [math.AP])

Our goal in this article is to study the global Lorentz estimates for gradient of weak solutions to $p$-Laplace double obstacle problems involving the Schr"odinger term: $-Delta_p u + mathbb{V}|u|^{p-2}u$ with bound constraints $psi_1 le u le psi_2$ in non-smooth domains. This problem has its own interest in mathematics, engineering, physics and other branches of science. Our approach makes a novel connection between the study of Calder'on-Zygmund theory for nonlinear Schr"odinger type equations and variational inequalities for double obstacle problems.




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Differential Machine Learning. (arXiv:2005.02347v2 [q-fin.CP] UPDATED)

Differential machine learning (ML) extends supervised learning, with models trained on examples of not only inputs and labels, but also differentials of labels to inputs.

Differential ML is applicable in all situations where high quality first order derivatives wrt training inputs are available. In the context of financial Derivatives risk management, pathwise differentials are efficiently computed with automatic adjoint differentiation (AAD). Differential ML, combined with AAD, provides extremely effective pricing and risk approximations. We can produce fast pricing analytics in models too complex for closed form solutions, extract the risk factors of complex transactions and trading books, and effectively compute risk management metrics like reports across a large number of scenarios, backtesting and simulation of hedge strategies, or capital regulations.

The article focuses on differential deep learning (DL), arguably the strongest application. Standard DL trains neural networks (NN) on punctual examples, whereas differential DL teaches them the shape of the target function, resulting in vastly improved performance, illustrated with a number of numerical examples, both idealized and real world. In the online appendices, we apply differential learning to other ML models, like classic regression or principal component analysis (PCA), with equally remarkable results.

This paper is meant to be read in conjunction with its companion GitHub repo https://github.com/differential-machine-learning, where we posted a TensorFlow implementation, tested on Google Colab, along with examples from the article and additional ones. We also posted appendices covering many practical implementation details not covered in the paper, mathematical proofs, application to ML models besides neural networks and extensions necessary for a reliable implementation in production.




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Recurrent Neural Network Language Models Always Learn English-Like Relative Clause Attachment. (arXiv:2005.00165v3 [cs.CL] UPDATED)

A standard approach to evaluating language models analyzes how models assign probabilities to valid versus invalid syntactic constructions (i.e. is a grammatical sentence more probable than an ungrammatical sentence). Our work uses ambiguous relative clause attachment to extend such evaluations to cases of multiple simultaneous valid interpretations, where stark grammaticality differences are absent. We compare model performance in English and Spanish to show that non-linguistic biases in RNN LMs advantageously overlap with syntactic structure in English but not Spanish. Thus, English models may appear to acquire human-like syntactic preferences, while models trained on Spanish fail to acquire comparable human-like preferences. We conclude by relating these results to broader concerns about the relationship between comprehension (i.e. typical language model use cases) and production (which generates the training data for language models), suggesting that necessary linguistic biases are not present in the training signal at all.




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Algorithmic Averaging for Studying Periodic Orbits of Planar Differential Systems. (arXiv:2005.03487v1 [cs.SC])

One of the main open problems in the qualitative theory of real planar differential systems is the study of limit cycles. In this article, we present an algorithmic approach for detecting how many limit cycles can bifurcate from the periodic orbits of a given polynomial differential center when it is perturbed inside a class of polynomial differential systems via the averaging method. We propose four symbolic algorithms to implement the averaging method. The first algorithm is based on the change of polar coordinates that allows one to transform a considered differential system to the normal form of averaging. The second algorithm is used to derive the solutions of certain differential systems associated to the unperturbed term of the normal of averaging. The third algorithm exploits the partial Bell polynomials and allows one to compute the integral formula of the averaged functions at any order. The last algorithm is based on the aforementioned algorithms and determines the exact expressions of the averaged functions for the considered differential systems. The implementation of our algorithms is discussed and evaluated using several examples. The experimental results have extended the existing relevant results for certain classes of differential systems.




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DMCP: Differentiable Markov Channel Pruning for Neural Networks. (arXiv:2005.03354v1 [cs.CV])

Recent works imply that the channel pruning can be regarded as searching optimal sub-structure from unpruned networks.

However, existing works based on this observation require training and evaluating a large number of structures, which limits their application.

In this paper, we propose a novel differentiable method for channel pruning, named Differentiable Markov Channel Pruning (DMCP), to efficiently search the optimal sub-structure.

Our method is differentiable and can be directly optimized by gradient descent with respect to standard task loss and budget regularization (e.g. FLOPs constraint).

In DMCP, we model the channel pruning as a Markov process, in which each state represents for retaining the corresponding channel during pruning, and transitions between states denote the pruning process.

In the end, our method is able to implicitly select the proper number of channels in each layer by the Markov process with optimized transitions. To validate the effectiveness of our method, we perform extensive experiments on Imagenet with ResNet and MobilenetV2.

Results show our method can achieve consistent improvement than state-of-the-art pruning methods in various FLOPs settings. The code is available at https://github.com/zx55/dmcp




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Near-optimal Detector for SWIPT-enabled Differential DF Relay Networks with SER Analysis. (arXiv:2005.03096v1 [cs.IT])

In this paper, we analyze the symbol error rate (SER) performance of the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) enabled three-node differential decode-and-forward (DDF) relay networks, which adopt the power splitting (PS) protocol at the relay. The use of non-coherent differential modulation eliminates the need for sending training symbols to estimate the instantaneous channel state informations (CSIs) at all network nodes, and therefore improves the power efficiency, as compared with the coherent modulation. However, performance analysis results are not yet available for the state-of-the-art detectors such as the approximate maximum-likelihood detector. Existing works rely on Monte-Carlo simulation to show that there exists an optimal PS ratio that minimizes the overall SER. In this work, we propose a near-optimal detector with linear complexity with respect to the modulation size. We derive an accurate approximate SER expression, based on which the optimal PS ratio can be accurately estimated without requiring any Monte-Carlo simulation.




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A Different Approach to Coding With React Hooks

React Hooks, introduced in React 16.8, present us with a fundamentally new approach to coding. Some may think of them as a replacement for lifecycles or classes, however, that would be wrong. Like trying to translate a word from another language, sometimes you’re facing a completely new entity, which seems identical on the surface but is very different semantically and can’t be treated as equivalent. 

React not only changed the approach from OOP to Functional. The method of rendering has changed in principle. React is now fully built on functions instead of classes. And this has to be understood on a conceptual level. 




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The 'Church at Planned Parenthood' guy is proudly defying Inslee's ban on in-person church services

The puppet's felt hair bounces as she stage-whispers to the other puppets, almost conspiratorially, about their plans.…



  • News/Local News

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With support from schools and parents, students can better prepare for a career in the arts

For parents of budding artists and creative types, it can often seem like the arts get short shrift in the K-12 curricula, especially at a time when STEM — short for science, technology, engineering and math — is the buzzword in education and the most visible casualties of school budget cuts are librarians and music teachers.…



  • Family & Parenting

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Compounds and methods useful for directing stem cell differentiation

The presently-disclosed subject matter relates to compounds of the formula: and methods for use thereof. The presently-disclosed subject matter relates methods of selectively differentiating a stem cell, and methods of screening for compounds useful for enhancing terminal differentiation of committed cardiac progenitor cells.




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Polyamide moulding materials containing copolyamides for producing transparent moulding parts with low distorsion in climatic testing

Polyamide molding materials for transparent molding parts. The materials comprise transparent copolyamides that contain: (A) 40 to 100 wt % of at least one transparent copolyamide with a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 80° C. and not more than 150° C., composed of at least two diamines that are different from each other, wherein the at least two diamines are a mixture of (a) 50 to 90 mol % bis-(4-amino-3-methylcyclohexyl)methane (MACM) and/or bis-(4-amino-3-ethylcyclohexyl)methane (EACM) and/or bis-(4-amino-3,5-dimethylcyclohexyl)methane (TMACM) and b) 10 to 50 mol % aliphatic diamine having 9 to 14 carbon atoms, in particular decandiamine, particularly preferably at least 20 mol % decandiamine, each relative to the total amount of diamines, and of one or more aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, having 6 to 36 carbon atoms, (B) 0 to 60 wt % of at least one further polymer, (C) 0 to 10 wt % of additives, the sum of the components (A), (B) and (C) totaling 100% by weight.




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Co-current catalyst flow with feed for fractionated feed recombined and sent to high temperature reforming reactors

A process is presented for the increasing the yields of aromatics from reforming a hydrocarbon feedstream. The process includes splitting a naphtha feedstream into a light hydrocarbon stream, and a heavier stream having a relatively rich concentration of naphthenes. The heavy stream is reformed to convert the naphthenes to aromatics and the resulting product stream is further reformed with the light hydrocarbon stream to increase the aromatics yields. The catalyst is passed through the reactors in a sequential manner.




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Method for quenching paraffin dehydrogenation reaction in counter-current reactor

A process is presented for quenching a process stream in a paraffin dehydrogenation process. The process comprises cooling a propane dehydrogenation stream during the hot residence time after the process stream leaves the catalytic bed reactor section. The process includes cooling and compressing the product stream, taking a portion of the product stream and passing the portion of the product stream to the mix with the process stream as it leaves the catalytic bed reactor section.




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Apparatuses enabling concurrent communication between an interface die and a plurality of dice stacks, interleaved conductive paths in stacked devices, and methods for forming and operating the same

Various embodiments include apparatuses, stacked devices and methods of forming dice stacks on an interface die. In one such apparatus, a dice stack includes at least a first die and a second die, and conductive paths coupling the first die and the second die to the common control die. In some embodiments, the conductive paths may be arranged to connect with circuitry on alternating dice of the stack. In other embodiments, a plurality of dice stacks may be arranged on a single interface die, and some or all of the dice may have interleaving conductive paths.




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Method of reducing downward flow of air currents on the lee side of exterior structures

A method of reducing the downward flow of air currents on the leeward side of an emissions emitting structure including the step of using a system that includes components chosen from the group consisting of one or more mechanical air moving devices; physical structures; and combinations thereof to create an increase in the air pressure within a volume of air on the leeward side of an emissions emitting structure having emissions that become airborne. The increased air pressure prevents or lessens downward flow of emissions that would occur without the use of the system and increases the safety by which one can travel a road or other transportation route that might otherwise be visually obscured by the emissions and the safety of the property and those within the area where emissions occur.




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Accessing model specific registers (MSR) with different sets of distinct microinstructions for instructions of different instruction set architecture (ISA)

A microprocessor capable of running both x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) machine language programs and Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) ISA machine language programs. The microprocessor includes a mode indicator that indicates whether the microprocessor is currently fetching instructions of an x86 ISA or ARM ISA machine language program. The microprocessor also includes a plurality of model-specific registers (MSRs) that control aspects of the operation of the microprocessor. When the mode indicator indicates the microprocessor is currently fetching x86 ISA machine language program instructions, each of the plurality of MSRs is accessible via an x86 ISA RDMSR/WRMSR instruction that specifies an address of the MSR. When the mode indicator indicates the microprocessor is currently fetching ARM ISA machine language program instructions, each of the plurality of MSRs is accessible via an ARM ISA MRRC/MCRR instruction that specifies the address of the MSR.




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Identifying differences between source codes of different versions of a software when each source code is organized using incorporated files

An aspect of the present invention identifies differences between source codes (e.g. of different versions of a software), when each source code is organized using incorporated files. In one embodiment, in response to receiving identifiers of a first and second source codes (each source code being organized as a corresponding set of code files), listings of the instructions in the first and second source codes are constructed. Each listing is constructed, for example, by replacing each incorporate statement in the source code with instructions stored in a corresponding one of code files. The differences between the first and second source codes are then found by comparing the constructed listings of instructions.




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Prediction of dynamic current waveform and spectrum in a semiconductor device

A method for accurately determining the shape of currents in a current spectrum for a circuit design is provided. The method includes determining timing and power consumption characteristics. In one embodiment, timing characteristics are provided through a electronic design automation tool. The timing characteristics yield a current pulse time width. In another embodiment, power consumption characteristics are provided by an EDA tool. The power consumption characteristics yield a current pulse amplitude. The shape of the current pulse is obtained by incrementally processing a power analyzer tool over relatively small time increments over one or more clock cycles while capturing the switching nodes of a simulation of the circuit design for each time increment. In one embodiment, the time increments are one nanosecond or less.




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Fast-cycling, conduction-cooled, quasi-isothermal, superconducting fault current limiter

Fault Current Limiters (FCL) provide protection for upstream and/or downstream devices in electric power grids. Conventional FCL require the use of expensive conductors and liquid or gas cryogen handling. Disclosed embodiments describe FCL systems and devices that use lower cost superconductors, require no liquid cryogen, and are fast cycling. These improved FCL can sustain many sequential faults and require less time to clear faults while avoiding the use of liquid cryogen. Disclosed embodiments describe a FCL with a superconductor and cladding cooled to cryogenic temperatures; these are connected in parallel with a second resistor across two nodes in a circuit. According to disclosed embodiments, the resistance of the superconducting components and its sheath in the fault mode are sufficiently high to minimize energy deposition within the cryogenic system, minimizing recovery time. A scheme for intermediate heat storage also is described which allows a useful compromise between conductor length enabled energy minimization and allowable number of sequential faults to enable an overall system design which is affordable, and yet allows conduction cooled (cryogen free) systems which have fast recovery and allows for multiple sequential faults.




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Superconducting direct-current electrical cable

A superconductive electrical direct current cable with at least two conductors insulated relative to each other is indicated, where the cable is placed with at least two conductors insulated relative to each other, where the conductors are arranged in a cryostat suitable for guidance of the cooling agent, wherein the cryostat is composed of at least one metal pipe which is surrounded by a circumferentially closed layer with thermally insulating properties. In the cryostat is arranged a strand-shaped carrier composed of insulating material, where the carrier has at least two diametrically oppositely located outwardly open grooves in each of which is arranged one of the conductors. Each conductor is composed of a plurality of superconductive elements.




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Inductive fault current limiter with divided secondary coil configuration

An inductive fault current limiter (1), has a normally conducting primary coil assembly (2) with a multiplicity of turns (3), and a superconducting, short-circuited secondary coil assembly (4). The primary coil assembly (2) and the secondary coil assembly (4) are disposed at least substantially coaxially with respect to each other and at least partially interleaved in each other. The secondary coil assembly (4) has a first coil section (4a) disposed radially inside the turns (3) of the primary coil assembly (2) and a second coil section (4b) disposed radially outside the turns (3) of the primary coil assembly (2). The fault current limiter has an increased inductance ratio.




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Method and apparatus for processing audio frames to transition between different codecs

A method (700, 800) and apparatus (100, 200) processes audio frames to transition between different codecs. The method can include producing (720), using a first coding method, a first frame of coded output audio samples by coding a first audio frame in a sequence of frames. The method can include forming (730) an overlap-add portion of the first frame using the first coding method. The method can include generating (740) a combination first frame of coded audio samples based on combining the first frame of coded output audio samples with the overlap-add portion of the first frame. The method can include initializing (760) a state of a second coding method based on the combination first frame of coded audio samples. The method can include constructing (770) an output signal based on the initialized state of the second coding method.




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Messaging response system providing translation and conversion written language into different spoken language

A messaging response system is disclosed wherein a service providing system provides services to users via messaging communications. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, multiple respondents servicing users through messaging communications may appear to simultaneously use a common “screen name” identifier.




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Device, method, and graphical user interface for managing concurrently open software applications

A method includes displaying a first application view. A first input is detected, and an application view selection mode is entered for selecting one of concurrently open applications for display in a corresponding application view. An initial group of open application icons in a first predefined area and at least a portion of the first application view adjacent to the first predefined area are concurrently displayed. The initial group of open application icons corresponds to at least some of the concurrently open applications. A gesture is detected on a respective open application icon in the first predefined area, and a respective application view for a corresponding application is displayed without concurrently displaying an application view for any other application in the concurrently open applications. The open application icons in the first predefined area cease to be displayed, and the application view selection mode is exited.




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Photo-curable transparent resin composition

Provided is a photo-curable transparent resin in which an oxetane monomer for promotion of photo-curing, control of viscosity, and improvement of physical properties is mixed with a photo-cationically polymerizable cyclo-aliphatic epoxy group-containing oligosiloxane resin prepared by a sol-gel reaction. The photo-cationically polymerizable photo-curable transparent resin added with the oxetane monomer provides a cured product having high curing density and retaining excellent mechanical properties, thermal-mechanical properties, and electrical properties.




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Counter-current multistage fischer tropsch reactor systems

The invention discloses an improved multistage fischer tropsch process scheme for the production of hydrocarbon fuels comprising feeding gaseous phase syngas and liquid stream hydrocarbons in a counter current manner such as herein described into the reaction vessel at a number of stages containing reaction catalysts; wherein fresh syngas enters into the stage where the product liquid stream leaves and the fresh liquid stream enters into the stage where the unreacted syngas leaves; wherein further the temperature of each stage can be controlled independently. More particularly the invention relates to improving the heat release in different reactors, product selectivity and reactor productivity of FT reactors.




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Method for producing transparent conductive film, transparent conductive film, transparent conductive substrate and device comprising the same

Provided is a method for producing a transparent conductive film which is formed via a coating step, a drying step and a baking step, wherein the baking step is characterized in that the dried coating film containing the organic metal compound as the main component is baked by being heated to a baking temperature or higher, at which at least the inorganic component is crystallized, under an oxygen-containing atmosphere having a dewpoint of −10° C. or lower, whereby an organic component contained in the dried coating film is removed therefrom by a heat decomposition, a combustion or the combination thereof to thereby form a conductive oxide microparticle layer densely filled with conductive oxide microparticles containing the metal oxide as a main component.




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Fluid mixer using countercurrent injection

A method and apparatus for mixing fluids, such as beverage syrup and water, uses countercurrent injection to improve blending of the fluids. A mixing chamber has a first inlet through which a first fluid is fed to the mixing chamber, and a second inlet through which a countercurrent injection nozzle extends and is operative to inject a second fluid into a stream of the first fluid. The countercurrent injection nozzle is equipped with a check valve to control the flow of fluid into the mixing chamber. The mixing chamber may include additional inlets that may be fitted with countercurrent injection nozzles to permit the countercurrent injection of other fluid, such as flavorings, into the stream of the first fluid.




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Eddy current minimizing flow plug for use in flow conditioning and flow metering

An eddy-current-minimizing flow plug has an outer radial wall with open flow channels formed between the plug's inlet and outlet. The plug has a central region coupled to the inner surface of the outer radial wall. Each open flow channel includes (i) a first portion originating at the inlet and converging to a location in the plug where convergence is contributed to by changes in thickness of the outer radial wall and divergence of the central region, and (ii) a second portion originating in the plug and diverging to the outlet where divergence is contributed to by changes in thickness of the outer radial wall and convergence of the central region. For at least a portion of the open flow channels, a central axis passing through the first and second portions is non-parallel with respect to the given direction of the flow.




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High sensitivity eddy current monitoring system

A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate includes polishing a metal layer on the substrate at a polishing station, monitoring thickness of the metal layer during polishing at the polishing station with an eddy current monitoring system, and controlling pressures applied by a carrier head to the substrate during polishing of the metal layer at the polishing station based on thickness measurements of the metal layer from the eddy current monitoring system to reduce differences between an expected thickness profile of the metal layer and a target profile, wherein the metal layer has a resistivity greater than 700 ohm Angstroms.




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Frame/symbol synchronization in coherent optical OFDM

One aspect provides an optical communication system. The system includes an optical-to-digital converter, a frequency estimator and a symbol synchronizer. The optical-to-digital converter is configured to receive an optical OFDM bit stream including an OFDM symbol bearing payload data and a symbol header preceding the OFDM payload data. The frequency estimator is configured to determine a carrier frequency offset of the payload data from the symbol header. The symbol synchronizer is configured to determine a starting location of the payload data within the bit stream by cross-correlating a synchronization pattern within the symbol header with a model synchronization pattern stored by the symbol synchronizer.




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Controller that determines average output current of a switching circuit

A switching circuit (400) comprising an inductive component (406) including at least one winding; and a switch (404) is configured to transfer power from a voltage source (402) to the inductive component (406) in accordance with a switch control signal (412). The switching circuit (400) also comprises a controller (408) configured to integrate the voltage across the inductive component (406) in order to generate a signal representative of magnetic flux in the inductive component (406); and use the signal representative of the magnetic flux in the inductive component to account for a peak magnetization current value in order to control the switch (404).




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Alternating-current/direct-current converter

An alternating-current/direct-current converter includes a rectifier, a reactor, a capacitor, and a switching rectifier. The rectifier is configured to rectify alternating-current voltage output from an alternating-current power source, thereby converting the alternating-current voltage into direct-current voltage, and to output the direct-current voltage. The capacitor includes terminals. The switching rectifier is coupled to the AC power source and switchable to output the direct-current voltage to the capacitor.




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Full bridge DC-DC converter that applies current doubler

A full bridge DC-DC converter to which a current doubler is applicable is provided and includes a transformer and a switching circuit that converts a high direct current voltage into a high alternating current voltage and then outputs the high alternating current voltage to the primary side of the transformer. In addition, an output circuit receives and processes the output of the secondary side of the transformer and supplies the processed output to an electric load. The output circuit includes a first inductor, a first contact resistor, a second inductor, a second contact resistor, a first diode, a third contact resister, a second diode, and a fourth contact resister.




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Circuits and methods for determining peak current

Embodiments include circuits and methods to determine peak current for current regulation. A control signal circuit monitors a current on the primary side of a transformer based a turn on time of a switch coupled to the primary side. The control signal circuit determines whether the monitored current exceeds an over-current protection threshold, and determines a duration that the monitored current exceeds the over-current protection threshold. The control signal circuit determines a peak primary current in the primary side based on the over-current protection threshold, the duration that the monitored current exceeds the over-current protection threshold, and the turn on time of the switch. The control signal circuit controls the turn on time for the switch based on the determined peak primary current.




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Low forward voltage rectifier using capacitive current splitting

A Low Forward Voltage Rectifier (LFVR) circuit includes a bipolar transistor, a parallel diode, and a capacitive current splitting network. The LFVR circuit, when it is performing a rectifying function, conducts the forward current from a first node to a second node provided that the voltage from the first node to the second node is adequately positive. The capacitive current splitting network causes a portion of the forward current to be a base current of the bipolar transistor, thereby biasing the transistor so that the forward current experiences a low forward voltage drop across the transistor. The LFVR circuit sees use in as a rectifier in many different types of switching power converters, including in flyback, Cuk, SEPIC, boost, buck-boost, PFC, half-bridge resonant, and full-bridge resonant converters. Due to the low forward voltage drop across the LFVR, converter efficiency is improved.




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Continuous counter-current organosolv processing of lignocellulosic feedstocks

A modular process for organosolv fractionation of lignocellulosic feedstocks into component parts and further processing of said component parts into one or more of a de-lignified cellulose stream, a sugar stream, small-chain alcohol streams and four structurally distinct classes of lignin derivatives. The modular process comprises a first processing module configured for digesting lignocellulosic feedstocks with an organic solvent thereby producing a cellulosic solids fraction and a liquid fraction, a second processing module configured for recovering small-chain alcohols and optionally a first class of lignin derivatives from the cellulosic solids fraction, a third processing module configured for recovering from the liquid fraction at least one of a second class and a third class of lignin derivatives or mixtures thereof, and waste stream comprising a fourth class of lignin derivatives. The fourth processing module may optionally recover the fourth class of lignin derivatives.




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Wall elements for water-cooled, current-conducting electrode bearing arms and electrode bearing arms produced from such wall elements

A support arm for a water-cooled, current-conducting electrode includes wall elements, wherein each wall element is a flat conductive metal with a hollowed out recess on its outer surface extending over its length. The support arm further includes a cover extending over each recess to define a closed cooling channel within each wall element when the cover is welded to the wall element. The cover includes with an inlet port and an outlet port for cooling water.




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Method of differentially diagnosing different types of dementia

The present invention relates to a method of differentially diagnosing different types of dementia. In particular, the method relates to the use of specific SPECT tracers for differentially diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, Lewy-Body Dementia, and Frontotemporal Dementia.




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Broadcasting receiver and parental control system

This broadcasting receiver includes a receiving portion receiving a broadcast signal, a determination portion determining whether or not a user to be subject to parental control of the broadcast signal has entered a prescribed range, and a control portion performing control of enabling parental control corresponding to a user determined to have entered the prescribed range in the case where the parental control corresponding to the user determined to have entered the prescribed range is disabled when the determination portion determines that the user to be subject to parental control has entered the prescribed range.




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User based parental controls

User-based parental controls (UBPC) are provided. UBPC are provided to users according to a user profile associated with a specific user. Parental controls may be tailored to meet a parental control need according to each user. User profiles may be created by one or more administrative users and may include restrictions according to a TV, movie, application, or game rating system, specific channels, or specific programs. User profiles may be stored in a remote database allowing for various media content receiving and/or viewing devices to access the user profiles for applying parental control features according to a specific user profile. A user profile may be altered by one or more administrative users who may create an override access code which may allow the administrative user to manage other users' parental controls.




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Media content discovery in an integrated media service that distributes media content by way of a plurality of different media distribution models

An exemplary method includes a media service provider system 1) providing an end user of an integrated media service with access to a media program by way of a plurality of different media distribution models, 2) maintaining a catalog that includes comprehensive information about the media program, the comprehensive information being an aggregate of non-redundant information about the media program obtained from a plurality of independent source catalogs corresponding to the plurality of different media distribution models, and 3) providing, based on the comprehensive information included in the catalog, a media service user interface that supports discovery of the comprehensive information about the media program regardless of a user interface context from which a user request for information about the media program is received. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.




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Battery pack with cells of different capacities electrically coupled in parallel

The disclosed embodiments provide a battery pack for use with a portable electronic device. The battery pack includes a first set of cells with different capacities electrically coupled in a parallel configuration. Cells within the first set of cells may also have different thicknesses and/or dimensions. The first set of cells is arranged within the battery pack to facilitate efficient use of space within a portable electronic device. For example, the first set of cells may be arranged to accommodate components in the portable electronic device.